[18]
JOHN HENRY NEWMAN.
BORN 1801.
PRIVATE JUDGMENT.
BY JOHN HENRY NEWMAN.
There is this obvious, undeniable difficulty in the attempt to form a
theory of Private Judgment, in the choice of a religion, that Private
Judgment leads different minds in such different directions. If, indeed,
there be no religious truth, or at least no sufficient means of arriving
at it, then the difficulty vanishes: for where there is nothing to find,
there can be no rules for seeking, and contradiction in the result is
but a _reductio ad absurdum_ of the attempt. But such a conclusion is
intolerable to those who search, else they would not search; and
therefore on them the obligation lies to explain, if they can, how it
comes to pass, that Private Judgment is a duty, and an advantage, and a
success, considering it leads the way not only to their own faith,
whatever that may be, but to opinions which are diametrically opposite
to it; considering it not only leads them right, but leads others wrong,
landing them as it may be in the Church of Rome, or in the Wesleyan
Connection, or in the Society of Friends.
Pages:
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223